From tree to kitchen cabinet

[Tony Pisano]

Okay, the thread title is a little misleading. After reading the thread about the maple trees turned into a basketball court, I thought I'd post about going from maple tree to maple syrup. We get plenty of honey from our bee hives but I've always wanted to try making some maple syrup. We tried unsuccessfully boiling a coffee can of sap on an open fire over 50 years ago when we were kids.
We tried again last year with a better setup and more success. This year we had six taps, two in each of three trees. Over the course of the summer, I scrounged firewood in the woods by my house, but most came cutoffs from a couple of construction sites. We used 4 and 5 gallon food grade buckets and I made roofs using aluminum sheet. We boiled in 6 inch deep steam table pans(that was my big $50 purchase for the season) on a woodstove in the back yard. It was lots of fun being outside on cold nights near a warm stove, watching the stars and waiting for the thermometer to hit 219. It was also tiring staying up till 2 or 3 am, but the end result was 4 gallons of super delicious homemade maple syrup. I've probably already gained a couple of pounds between pancakes, french toast, honey maple molasses candy and cookies.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Good for you Tony. We have a high school sophomore on the street behind us who has gone into business making maple syrup. He was even shown on the channel 9 NH nightly news doing his boil. He is actually running a profitable business in his 3rd year and has repaid the loan his parents gave him. He started in business at age 12. Because it's a business for him he has gone the modern way and is using plastic tubing to run from his taps to the collection tanks. Truly a motivated young entrepreneur.

[Jim Becker]

Fresh maple syrup is a wonderful thing, for sure! There was a lot of that activity in NE PA where I grew up while I was growing up, as it were.

Hopefully, we'll get some honey this year from our colonies. It's our second year and both colonies started last year made it through the winter strong. Some splits and another NUC coming will likely help us get some yummy goodness this year!

[Pat Barry]

Nothing better than fresh maple syrup. Makes you wonder how Aunt Jemima actually sells anything

[Bert Kemp]

Well Aunt Jemima is a few bucks a Qt and real Maple syrup 15 to 20 bucks a qt


Nothing better than fresh maple syrup. Makes you wonder how Aunt Jemima actually sells anything

[John C Cox]

Mmmmmmmmm. Sounds so delicious. Unfortunately - our ugly little suburban greenery doesnt make anything of any food value. Its hardly even good for the fire. About the only thing it does well is mulch.

I am working on that with a couple blueberries, apples, pears, and a tangerine.

[Tony Pisano]

Dave, thats wonderful to hear about a young motivated person. I think we need to drift back ttoward more small businesses and sustainability.
Jim good luck with your bees. It gets tougher every year and we need people willing to keep keeping bees. When I started at the young age of 52, I thought why not try this as a small business. I took some classes offered by Betterbee in soap, lip balm and hand salve, and candle making. I invested $1,200 total and started 5 hives. I turned out to be a good year, yielding some surplus honey. We kept 40lbs for home use and sold the rest, and put the money back in. For the first 3 years I put any profits back into the business. I've kept it small with anywhere between 5 and 10 hives, and the candle making part sometimes exceeds the honey sales. You should have honey this year, and you will love it.
We grew up eating Vermont Maid brand syrup. It wasn't real but at least was thin and had some flavor, unlike the Aunt J and Mrs Butterworth, which are thick corn syrup. When I had kids and could finally afford to buy some real maple syrup, my daughter didn't like it at first.
John, You might be surprised at whats out there around you. Last year We tapped a couple of Norway Maples along with one sugar maple. It was really good. I guess the sugar content is a lot lower so it takes more sap to get the same amount as from a sugar maple. I've also tasted syrup from other trees. If I remember correctly, one was black walnut. My daughter lives in Baldwinsville NY and was asking about the trees in her front yard. Turns out one is a really big old beechnut tree.

[Tony Pisano]

Here are photos of our sap boiling. Thanks John for telling me how to downsize the photos.

[Chris Padilla]

Awesome!! I hope to do such things when I retire! I just need to move a bit more away from the city and get a bit more land. Ah...one day.... :)